Author: Babajanian Karo

BALAKIAN LAUNCHES ILLINOIS HOLOCAUST MUSEUM 2015 PROJECT

Monday, April 29th, 2013

Balakian addresses the Illinois Holocaust Museum

SKOKIE, Ill.-Peter Balakian spoke Sunday, April 20 to an audience of
more than 250 people at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education
Center in Skokie, a suburb of Chicago, and a town that is still
remembered for the controversial march of neo-Nazi groups there
in 1979. The Museum is the second largest of its kind after the US
Holocaust Museum and Memorial in Washington, DC.

Balakian lectured for the occasion of the 98th anniversary of the
Armenian genocide, traditionally commemorated on April 24th. He
also commenced his work with the Museum as Senior Scholar for the
Armenian genocide exhibit it will mount in 2015 for the genocide’s
100th anniversary.

In his opening remarks, Museum Executive Director Rick Hirschhaut said:
“Our young people – our future – must be a bridge to the future,
and ensure that we realize the lessons that were set forth by us,
by the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and all such terrible
atrocities. We must speak for those whose voices were silenced and
for those who survived so we may remember and pledge never to forget.

Today,” Hirschhaut continued, “at this gathering, we are reminded of
a history that must be recognized, and remembered, and calls to the
importance of lighting the torch of truth for the world community.”

Nairee Hagopian of the ANCA then introduced Balakian and expressed
her gratitude to the Museum for initiating such an important and
timely project.

Balakian thanked Hirschhaut and the Illinois Holocaust Museum for
their leadership in partnering with the ANCA to build an Armenian
genocide exhibit for the 2015 anniversary, “a project,” he said,
“that will serve as a model for others to come.”

Balakian also noted how crucial the ongoing support and intellectual
work of the Jewish community has been, and continues to be, “from
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Franz Werfel, and Raphael Lemkin to the
work and support of so many superb scholars in our time including
Elie Wiesel, Deborah Lipstadt, Robert Melson, Robert Jay Lifton,
Andrew Goldberg, and many others, Jews who have made a decisive
difference in clarifying our understanding of what happened to the
Armenians in 1915.”

For the April 24th commemoration of the Armenian genocide, Balakian
then gave a lecture, “Raphael Lemkin, Cultural Destruction, and the
Armenian genocide.” He discussed Lemkin’s deep thinking about what
happened to the Armenians in 1915 as a seminal case of genocide, noting
how Lemkin’s intellectual commitment to what he came to call genocide
was heavily influenced by his study of the Turkish mass killing of
Armenians. It was Lemkin, he said, who first coined the term Armenian
genocide in the 1940s, and explained the concept on a special CBS
Television broadcast about the UN Genocide Convention, in February
1949. Balakian also explored how the destruction of Armenian culture
(intellectuals and artists, churches, schools, libraries, forced
conversions to Islam, etc.) constituted a key component of genocide.

In an extensive PowerPoint presentation, Balakian showed arresting
images of magnificent, thriving Armenian churches before 1915, and
those same churches, in Turkey, that are in ruins today. He concluded
by observing that this kind of cultural destruction still has complex
reverberations, and impacts on Armenians in Armenia, in the diaspora,
and in Turkey.

A reception and book signing followed.

COMMEMORATION DU 98EME ANNIVERSAIRE DU GENOCIDE ARMENIEN

Des centaines de milliers de personnes ont converge, toute la journee
du 24 avril vers le Monument du Genocide pour deposer des fleurs en
commemoration des evenements de 1915. Les dirigeants armeniens, dont
le President Sarkissian, le President de l’AN, le PM, des Ministres,
des officiers de haut rang etc, ainsi que le corps diplomatique
accredite en Armenie s’y sont rendus le matin. Les medias signalent
la presence de la deputee francaise, Valerie Boyer, auteur de la
proposition de loi penalisant la negation du genocide armenien,
invalidee ensuite par le Conseil constitutionnel. Les chaînes de
television ont abondamment rendu compte des manifestations organisees
a travers la France, dont celle a Paris en presence du Ministre de
l’Education nationale, M. Vincent Peillon. Le soir du 23 avril, a eu
lieu a Erevan, la retraite aux flambeaux traditionnelle de milliers de
jeunes organisee par le parti Dachnak. Dans son message a la nation
armenienne, le President Sarkissian a estime qu’un peuple millenaire
a ete extermine sur sa propre terre. ” Il est de notre devoir de
temoigner et d’attirer l’attention de la communaute internationale
sur le fait que la negation, par la Turquie, du Genocide constitue
le prolongement direct de ce crime. Certains nous proposent de ne
pas rouvrir les blessures du passe et de regarder en avant. A cela
je reponds : Orhan Pamuk et Hrant Dink n’ont pas ete condamnes il y
a cent ans, mais sous nos yeux “.

Les quotidiens reproduisent en outre la declaration conjointe des
Catholicos Karekine II et de la Grande Maison de Cilicie, Aram I,
qui appellent la Turquie a reconnaître le Genocide armenien, a
dedommager le peuple armenien pour les pertes subies et l’atteinte
a ses droits nationaux, a restituer immediatement au peuple armenien
des centaines d’eglises, de lieux de culte et d’autres biens qui ont
appartenu a l’Eglise armenienne. Les deux Catholicos relèvent que l’on
se souviendra toujours avec reconnaissance de tous les peuples et
Etats ayant accueilli les rescapes du Genocide, ainsi que des Etats
qui ont fait preuve d’humanisme et de justice en reconnaissant le
Genocide armenien.

Et d’ajouter que l’Armenie ne compte aujourd’hui plus que 55 citoyens
rescapes du Genocide, dont 43 femmes, qui recoivent a ce titre une
pension de l’Etat armenien (141 en 2011 et 250 en 2010).

Extrait de la revue de presse de l’Ambassade de France en Armenie en
date du 25 avril 2013

mardi 30 avril 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

QUESTIONS SUR L’OPACITE DU FINANCEMENT DES ONG

Le personnel du President Serge Sarkissian a alloue quelque 500
millions de drams (1,2 million de dollars) de subventions a trois
dizaines d’organisations non gouvernementales qui ont generalement
evite de faire connaître leurs activites, y compris celles ayant
soi-disant trait a la defense des droits de l’homme.

Le Centre pour la liberte de l’information base a Erevan a obtenu des
informations detaillees sur le financement, accorde pour la periode
2010-2012, du ministère des Finances armenien. Celui-ci devait le
rendre public en conformite avec la legislation sur la liberte de
l’information en l’Armenie.

Pratiquement , c’est au contraire l’opacite qui a prevalu sur 31
recipiendaires des bourses presidentielles. Les donnees du gouvernement
montrent que bon nombre d’entre elles ont ete creees et enregistrees
auprès du ministère de la Justice peu de temps avant de recevoir un
financement de l’Etat.

Selon Arman Saghatelian, le secretaire de presse de Sarkissian, les
decisions concernant le financement ont ete faites par une equipe de
fonctionnaires, de representants de l’administration presidentielle
et ” d’organisations partenaires.” Dans ses observations ecrites
au service armenien de RFE / RL (Azatutyun.am) envoye la semaine
dernière, Saghatelian a declare que ce ” groupe de suivi ” a supervise
l’utilisation des subventions presidentielles. Et a explique qu’il
se penche actuellement sur les moyens de rendre l’aide de l’Etat a
la societe civile plus ” axee sur les programmes et orientee vers
le developpement.”

Une de ces ONG, appelee ” Developpement et d’Integration “, a beneficie
de la plus grande part de cette aide. En 2011-2012, elle a recu six
subventions totalisant près de 75 millions de drams. Elle compte
parmi ses fondateurs Levon Martirosian, un depute pro-gouvernemental
qui a travaille comme assistant du president Sarkissian avant d’etre
elu au Parlement en mai 2012.

Pratiquement rien on ne connait rien sur les activites de ”
Developpement et Integration “. Et il en va de meme pour presque tous
les autres beneficiaires de subventions. Six d’entre eux comptent la
meme personne, Suren Barseghian, parmi leurs fondateurs.

Suse Doydoyan, directrice du Centre pour la Liberte de l’Information,
a declare qu’elle a tente en vain d’obtenir des informations sur le
travail de ces 31 ONG. ” C’est surprenant, car de nos jours toutes
les organisations sont interessees a communique autant que possible
sur leurs activites “, s’est etonne Doydoyan au service armenien de
RFE / RL. ” Or, ces ONG cherchent a rester dans l’ombre. ”

Meme les localiser n’est pas une tâche facile. Deux d’entre elles,
l’autoproclame groupe droits de l’homme Arbanyak (satellite) et
l’organisation ” Pays de la jeunesse ” pretendument en faveur des
soins de sante sont enregistres a la meme adresse. Un journaliste de
RFE / RL a decouvert que leurs supposes locaux situes dans un immeuble
de bureaux du centre de Erevan sont vides. Une femme qui travaille
la-bas et qui se presente comme la gestionnaire de l’immeuble a
declare n’avoir jamais entendu parler de ces organisations.

Une autre ONG soutenue par la presidence ” Generation eduquee ”
pretendait avoir un bureau dans la meme rue du centre-ville. Il
s’avère que c’est un appartement vide. Les residents de l’immeuble
n’etaient pas au courant de l’existence de ” Generation eduquee “. ”
Je n’ai jamais entendu ce nom auparavant “, a declare un voisin.

Cette opacite montre un contraste frappant avec les activites des
ONG de grandes envergures les plus connues de l’Armenie qui sont
financees, en règle generale, par les gouvernements occidentaux,
des organisations internationales et les fondations privees etrangères.

Beaucoup d’entre elles sont engages dans la defense des droits
civiques, critiquant regulièrement le gouvernement.

Levon Barseghian est un vieux militant prodemocratie qui dirige
un de ces groupes, le Club Asparez des journalistes de Gyumri. “On
ne sait pas comment les ONG nouvellement creees pouvaient obtenir
aussi rapidement des financements de l’Etat “, a-t-il commente. ”
Il y avait peu de sensibilisation du public a leurs activites.”

Boris Navasardian, le president du Yerevan Press Club, lie cette
question au problème du manque general de transparence dans les
differents appels d’offres et de financement administres par des
organismes d’Etat armenien. ” Nous savons comment les offres publiques
sont gerees “, a-t-il indique. “Les subventions sont distribuees de
la meme manière.”

” Nous voulons que les activites de la societe civile d’etre aussi
transparente que possible ” a ajoute Navasardian.

mardi 30 avril 2013, Ara ©armenews.com

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN. COMMEMORATION AVEC LES FAMILLES

Le Telegramme, France
Jeudi 25 Avril 2013

Dimanche, en collaboration avec la municipalite, l’association Menez
Ararat, qui reunit les Francais d’origine armenienne du grand ouest,
organisait une commemoration a l’espace de la Paix près de la mairie.

Un depôt de gerbe a ete effectue en presence des elus du Cap-Sizun
et de Annick Le Loch, deputee de la circonscription, et des familles
capistes. ” C’est un devoir de memoire pour le genocide armenien,
envers ceux qui ont perdu la vie et un espoir pour leurs proches “,
a commente Georges Kevorkian, le president de l’association.

DES CHANTS ARMENIENS, DIMANCHE, ABBAYE DU RELEC AVEC AKN

Ouest-France
vendredi 26 avril 2013
quimper Edition

Les chants duLivre des heures et les chants melismatiques, chantes en
groupe ou en solo dans leur forme originale, font partie du programme
offert, dimanche, par l’ensemble armenien Akn. Ce concert gratuit
s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une residence de cet ensemble international,
a l’abbaye du Relec, du 8 avril au 3 mai. ” Bretons, corses, occitans,
genois, albanais ou sardes, armeniens, les chants et les pays se
succèdent au Relec “, souligne Eleonore Jandin, pour Chemins du
patrimoine en Finistère.

L’abbatiale possède des qualites acoustiques particulièrement
adaptees a la musique vocale. D’ailleurs, elle accueille, chaque
annee en juillet, le festival Arree Voce, dedie a la musique vocale
traditionnelle.

Dimanche 28, a 17 h 30, abbaye du Relec, a Plouneour-Menez. Gratuit.

TAIWANESE SINGER EMBARKS ON CHARITY MISSION TO ARMENIA

Focus Taiwan News Channel
April 29 2013

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Taiwanese singer-songwriter William Wei
embarked on a trip to Armenia Monday to promote a World Vision Taiwan
coin bank that collects donations for children in need.

Wei, accompanied by six Taiwanese child and youth volunteers, will
stay in the Western Asian country until May 6, during which he will
meet and interact with local children, including a 6-year-old Armenian
child he has been sponsoring, World Vision Taiwan said Monday.

The singer will give gifts, including a guitar, to his sponsored
child and will also perform, the charity said.

The coin bank has been designed by the charity to look like a loaf
of bread.

In an online video, the singer called on the Taiwanese public to each
save NT$25 (US$0.84) a day, or NT$700 a month, in the coin banks and
to send the money to the charity to sponsor a child.

“Don’t underestimate the coins in your hands,” Wei said, adding that
a small amount of money can make a big difference.

Donors can sponsor a child in Taiwan for NT$700 per month, or a child
overseas for NT$1,000 per month, according to World Vision Taiwan.

(By Christie Chen) ENDITEM/J

.

ARMENIA PRAISES RUSSIA’S EFFORTS OVER KARABAKH SETTLEMENT – NALBANDIAN

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 25, 2013 Thursday 12:41 PM GMT+4

– Armenia praises Russia’s efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said after
the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday.

“Russia plays the most important role in ensuring stability and
security in the region,” Nalbandian stressed.

He said, “Russia is Armenia’s first partner and investor.” “Over
1,300 joint ventures operate on the territory of Armenia. Trade has
increased by 20 percent. If we look at the past five years, these
are serious figures,” the Armenian minister added.

“Military-technical cooperation, inter-parliamentary relations
and inter-regional interaction develop actively. We agreed to
continue coordinating our actions within the CIS, the CSTO and other
organisations,” Nalbandian pointed out.

RUSSIAN, ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS TO DISCUSS NAGORNO-KARABAKH APRIL 25

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 24, 2013 Wednesday 01:43 PM GMT+4

MOSCOW April 24

– Foreign Ministers of Russia and Armenia, Sergei Lavrov and Edward
Nalbandian will meet in Moscow on April 25 to discuss security and
stability in Transcaucasia, including the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Wednesday.

“We believe that our foreign political actions with Yerevan at the
regional level help improve the political situation in the region,”
Lukashevich said.

“Relations between Moscow and Yerevan reached the level of
partnership. Moscow and Yerevan cooperate within the CIS and the CSTO.

We maintain close interaction within international structures –
the U.N., the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation organisation,” the diplomat said.

He said the Armenian delegation was planning to have meeting with the
leadership of the Federation Council and the State Duma. Nalbandian
will address professors and students of the Russian Foreign Ministry
Diplomatic Academy.

“The visit will continue the intensive Russian-Armenian dialogue,
which is aimed at further development of close cooperation in the
political, trade, economic and humanitarian fields,” the ministry said.

ARIZONA: MELIKIAN TO RECEIVE 2013 ELLIS ISLAND MEDAL OF HONOR

US Official News
April 24, 2013 Wednesday

Department of Education, The State of Arizona has issued the following
press release:

Gregory J. Melikian, the namesake and longtime benefactor of The
Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies at
Arizona State University, will be awarded a 2013 Ellis Island Medal
of Honor award given by The National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations
(NECO), sponsor of the Ellis Island Medals of Honor.

The 27th Annual Ellis Island Medals Of Honor ceremony will take place
on Saturday, May 11 on Ellis Island, honoring leaders of entertainment,
business, government, military, education, sports, media, healthcare
and other dignitaries. The Medals of Honor ceremony will pay tribute
to 90 American citizens of diverse ethnic origins whose influence
and achievements inspire and touch the lives of people everywhere.

Melikian has a longstanding commitment to his community and nation. In
WWII, he was a young 20-year-old sergeant with Supreme Headquarters
Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) headquartered in Versailles and
Reims France in 1944-1945. He was a telegraph radio operator under
the command of Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower. At
3:30 a.m. on May 7, 1945, it was Melikian who was chosen to announce
to all military forces and world leaders, the unconditional surrender
of Germany and the end of WWII in Europe.

After obtaining a law degree in 1948, he established a successful
practice in New York City, specializing in real estate law. Melikian
would eventually become a New York City Courts arbitration judge,
but his true joy became the purchase and restoration of historic
buildings. After buying his first building in 1951, he would go on
to amass 32 properties by the time he retired from real estate in 1979.

After moving to Arizona in 1969, Gregory and his wife Emma Ordjanian
Melikian helped the then small Armenian community build and establish
The Armenian Community Center – Melikian Hall – of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of Arizona.

Melikian has been a generous supporter of education and the arts
in Arizona, serving as a board member of the Phoenix Symphony and
President of the Arizona Opera Company in the 1980s.

In 2007, the Melikian’s partnership with ASU and support was recognized
with the naming of The Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian and East
European Studies in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The
center’s programming includes the internationally recognized Critical
Languages Institute, which offers intensive instruction in the less
commonly taught languages of Eastern Europe and Eurasia, including
Albanian, Armenian, Russian, Persian, Polish, Tatar, Ukrainian, Uzbek,
Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Pashto and Hebrew.

The center also supports undergraduate and graduate students
by offering grant mentoring workshops for those hoping to study
overseas in Europe and Eurasia with Fulbright International Educational
Exchange, National Security Education Program (NSEP) Boren Fellowships
or Gilman International Scholarship programs, among other activities.

In 2008, ASU President Michael Crow presented the Melikians the
University Medal of Excellence for their leadership and civic
engagement. The University Medal of Excellence honors innovative
leaders who have advanced awareness and action on issues that affect
the well-being and positive development of their communities.

Melikian served as Honorary Commander of the 56th Fighter Wing and
944th Fighter Wing of the Air Force Reserve at Luke Air Force Base
in Arizona for which he is now retired.

In 2012, for his unique role as “The Man Who Ended WWII” in Europe,
Melikian was inducted and bestowed as Chevalier (Knight) into the
French Legion of Honor. He was recommended for this award, the highest
decoration in France, by French President Francois Hollande.

“I am delighted and honored to receive the Ellis Island Medal of
Honor,” said Melikian, when he was notified of his selection for the
award. “It’s a testament to my Armenian immigrant parents who fled
the Ottoman Empire and arrived on Ellis Island to start a new life
for their family.”

The Ellis Island Medal of Honor ranks among the nation’s most
prestigious awards. The medals are awarded annually to outstanding
American citizens from all walks of life, who have distinguished
themselves through their significant contributions to this country.

Past medal recipients include six Presidents of the United States,
Nobel Prize winners, athletes, leaders of industry, artists and others
whose work has made a lasting impact on humanity. Each year, the U.S.

Senate and House of Representatives officially recognize the Ellis
Island Medals of Honor, and list the recipients in the Congressional
Record.

For further information please visit:

BEING A NATION WHICH UNDERWENT GENOCIDE JEWS HAVE NO RIGHT NOT TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE. FORMER KNESSET MEMBER

19:39, 29 April, 2013

JERUSALEM, APRIL 29, ARMENPRESS: Scientific symposium on occasion
of 98th anniversary of Armenian Genocide was organized in Hebrew
University of Jerusalem on April 28. Armenpress was informed from
its Jerusalem reporter.

The symposium was launched by the greeting speech of representative
of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem Bagrat Purchekian.

“Commemoration of Genocide is our weapon against Turkish denial. Our
trial will not die as long as Armenian nation lives,” he noted,
adding that Armenian nation will reconcile with Turkey only after
establishment of justice. Honorary Consul of Armenia to Israel
Tsolak Momchyan also delivered a speech, briefly presenting Armenian
Genocide and referring to the discussion of Armenian Genocide in
Israeli Knesset on April 23.

The greeting speech was followed by the lecture of the main speaker
of the evening, former Knesset member Yair Tsaban titled “Denial.

Personal interest and conscience”. During the lecture he condemned
Israel for not recognizing Armenian Genocide mainly noting “Being
a nation which underwent genocide we, Jews, have no right not to
recognize others’ genocide. It is the duty of Israel and Jewish nation
to recognize others’ genocide. Every genocide should be condemned,
in order to prevent repetition of such phenomena,’ he said.

Symposium was concluded with an artistic section.

Author Reverend Father Koryun Baghdasaryan